ACPI - Bios related problem. Thinkpad Edge 14"
 

Hello everyone,
I'm having a mildly annoying problem on my Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 14". It is currently Dual-booting Windows 7 and Scientific Linux 6.1 (but this problem occurs in Slackware and Debian as well).

My function keys and ACPI events (suspend on lid close etc) stop working in both Linux and Windows. If I boot into Windows and use the Lenovo Bios Update utility to re-flash the bios, things start working again for a short time. Everything works, suspend, function keys etc. Then after anywhere between a week and an hour, they mysteriously stop working until I reflash the Bios.

As far as I can tell they stop working when I'm running in Linux, though that may just be because I spent 80% of my time on the Linux side.

I'm sorry if this is a little short of detail but I have no idea how to even start debugging or where to look.

Thanks,

I wonder if this is related to microcode? In Synaptic (Debian) there is a microcode update package. Search for it. If it's installed, try uninstalling it and if it's not installed, try installing it.
Running Linux shouldn't affect the bios, but it could affect bios settings. I know from experience with a colleagues Lenova Thinkpad that many of it's 'features' are bios based software that only run under Windows. (e.g. the on-screen keyboard) You should not have to flash the bios more than once in the machine's life-time though so this is a real problem. :(
Also, try going through the bios settings (accessed at power-on) and write down these settings immediately after re-flashing the bios. compare these with the settings after the problem manifests. If you see any changes, chances are that's the culprit!

Microcode was installed and I've removed it using yum. We'll see if that makes a difference :)
This is a pretty brilliant idea, thanks :)

there was also some problems with lm-sensors corrupting some bios so uninstall that as well

D1ver,

I had this same type of problem myself specifically with Ubuntu 11.04 when I dual booted it next to Windows 7 on my Toshiba Satellite laptop. The first install I received an overabundance of errors cascading down the screen referring to my "Conexant driver panicked" and the whole computer froze up and I literally had to perform a full factory restore. However, when I went back the next time and tried to install Ubuntu, I had found that there is an option when you install Ubuntu where you press F6 for options. In that option, there is a feature "ACPI=off" and you have to hit enter to place an X next to it. This turns off the Advanced Power Configuration settings which I have come to find cause more problems that just the ones I had when it comes to laptops in general. Some arrangement I heard where Microsoft, Dell and a couple other companies created this ACPI to allow for more universal support in OS's with hardware. Anyway, I noticed you had Debian installed and I know that Ubuntu is Debian based. Do you recall an option to disable the ACPI when you installed that distro? And it doesn't matter after the install whether you leave it on or not, it's just during the install only you have to turn it off. That's my suspicion.

You might find some help here:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki